Published 11:10 pm, Monday, November 18, 2013

HARTFORD -- Four Connecticut women -- service veterans who were sexually assaulted, then discouraged in their careers by superior officers -- joined U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Monday to push for massive changes in military investigations.

At stake is a pending amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act that would change the way the current military prosecutorial and justice system allows officers to run the investigation of assault cases under their command.

Sandra Lee, of Manchester, a former Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq, said it took three years before she was in the right mind to even report the sexual assault she suffered from a fellow soldier in 2007.

"I wanted to forget about it all over again," Lee said during a news conference, recalling her residency in a post-traumatic stress program. "The soldier who assaulted me was of a higher rank and very respected."

Former Air Force Staff Sgt. Pattie Dumin, of New Britain, state council president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said a harassment complaint in Colorado led to her demotion to a Greenland air base, where her wing commander sexually assaulted her.

Cheryl Berg, of Wallingford, a retired Army National Guard master sergeant with 28 years of service, was nominated for a Bronze Star for action in Iraq, but after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against her battalion commander, the award was denied when he filed a counter complaint.

"I was also denied a Combat Action Badge for injuries I incurred in a convoy I was in," she said.

Maureen Friedly, of Meriden, a former Marine corporal, said she had to endure seeing her assailant every day for two months at a special music training school run by the Navy.

"He was also our squad leader," she recalled. "He definitely used it to his advantage. If anything, the best I can say it was swept under the rug."

"This week will be critical in determining whether or not there is fundamental reform in the way that the military prosecutes sexual assault," Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a news conference at the Capitol complex.

An estimated 26,000 cases of unwanted sexual contact occurred in the military last year, but only 3,000 were reported.

"This insidious crime is under-reported because it is under-prosecuted ... because the chain of command is so closely involved in making decisions," Blumenthal said. "The fact of the matter is, in the overwhelming number of cases, the sexual perpetrator is also in the chain of command.

"So there is a fear of retaliation, which discourages reporting," Blumenthal said. "If there's no reporting, there is no effective prosecution, no deterrent, no punishment and therefore, in effect, continued condoning of this crime."

The amendment, which awaits a 60-vote minimum in the Senate, would take investigative decisions away from commanders and give them to trained, experienced, objective prosecutors.

"Rampant sexual assault undermines good order and discipline in the military," Blumenthal said.